Saints to pick in Carlton Draft

AN AFL legend will be coming out of retirement to play a match for Carngham-Linton Football Club this season.

Part of a promotion by a brewing company, the Saints are one of six clubs to take part in the Carlton Draft that sees ex-AFL players join struggling clubs.

The star-studded line-up includes 2003 Brownlow Medallist Nathan Buckley, four-time premiership winner Jordan Lewis, Adelaide and Melbourne best and fairest recipient Bernie Vince, premiership players Josh Kennedy and Kane Cornes, and Fremantle games record holder David Mundy.

Greg Spratling, president of Carngham Linton Football Netball club said everyone is looking forward to the experience.

“They put it out on the Carlton Draft website for nominations and there was a couple of people who nominated us,” he said. “Everyone was saying yes go for it, there was no negativity.

“We’ve had a few tough years, and as part of our journey to be successful on and off the ground we thought this would be a great chance to give our club publicity.”

The Saints will not find out which of the six players will join the club until Wednesday, 26 April.

“Any of the six would be a quality person to come into the club for a day,” Mr Spratling said.

“Whoever we get will attract quite a crowd to our game and we want to utilise them to help promote the club.

“Already it’s provided a bit of excitement around the place and we want as many people as we can to see our club moving in the right direction.”

As part of the event, Mr Spratling said he is looking forward to getting younger players involved.

“The juniors are the future of the club, so you want to make sure they’re as important as anything that goes on that day,” he said.

“Even without The Carlton Draft, we try and get our kids to stay around and watch the seniors with things like buddy days.”

Last year The Carlton Draft initiative saw Dale Thomas help the Nhill Tigers towards their first win in 1029 days with the club raising more than $12,000 in the process.

“From the financial aspect, if we make money on the day, it will be given back to equipment that can help football and netball,” Mr Spratling said.

“This is just a part of the journey moving forward.”

The Carlton Draft matches will commence in May but when the Carngham-Linton game will occur is yet to be announced.